Malabungot, alternatively spelled as Malabungut, and also known as Mahad, is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in Binagasbasan Bay off the coast of Garchitorena in

Camarines Sur Camarines Sur ( bcl, Habagatan na Camarines; tl, Timog Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its capital is Pili and the province borders Camarines Norte and ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is separated from

Caramoan Peninsula The Caramoan National Park is a national park and protected area in Camarines Sur, Philippines. It was established in 1938. The park has caves, limestone formations, white sandy beaches, an islet lake and a subterranean river, make it popular wit ...

in the south by the Quinalasag Passage, also known as Sisiran Passage, which connects Lamit and Sisiran bays. The island forms the head of Binagasbasan Bay, bordered to the west by the Lamit Islands and to the east by Quinalasag Island, and which opens northward to the

Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean east of the Philippine archipelago (hence the name), the largest in the world, occupying an estimated surface area of . The Philippine Sea Plate forms the floor of the sea. Its ...

. It is designated as a protected landscape and seascape on account of its biodiversity and ecological significance.

Geography

Malabungot is one of several small islands lying off the coast of Caramoan Peninsula shared between the municipalities of Garchitorena,

Caramoan Caramoan, officially the Municipality of Caramoan ( bcl, Banwaan kan Caramoan; tl, Bayan ng Caramoan), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Camarines Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 51,728 people ...

and

Lagonoy Lagonoy, officially the Municipality of Lagonoy ( bcl, Banwaan kan Lagonoy; tl, Bayan ng Lagonoy), is a 2nd class municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Camarines Sur, Philippines. According to the ...

in the Partido District of Camarines Sur. It belongs administratively to the Garchitorena

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

of Binagasbasan along with the Lamit Islands, and Pawican and Puling islets in Lamit Bay. The island is largely flat and measures long and wide at its widest point. It is situated on the edge of a shore reef in an irregular-shaped bay lying between Quinalasag and Lamit Islands, which are two small islands separated by a narrow impassable channel. It is approximately from the mainland of Garchitorena.

Conservation

The island comprises of lowland evergreen forests and sandy beaches. It is part of a

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

established in 1981 comprising the Malabungot, Basot and Quinalang (Quinalasag) islands of Camarines Sur. The area is known for its diverse ecosystems such as vast

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

forests,

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

beds and hard

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s which serve as feeding and breeding ground for a variety of marine life, including green sea turtles,

hawksbill sea turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is largel ...

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, D ...

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

s and ''

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest m ...

s''. Several other fish species can be seen here including

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

giant clam The giant clams are the members of the clam genus ''Tridacna'' that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus ''Tridacna'', which are often misidentified for ''Tridacna gigas'', th ...

swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...

, snappers,

grouper Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes. Not all serranids are called "groupers"; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name "grouper" is u ...

s and

skate Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish *Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae * Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae * Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongin ...

s. The wilderness area is also surrounded by thick patches of mangroves that attract birds such as

mangrove blue flycatcher The mangrove blue flycatcher (''Cyornis rufigastra'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is native to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove ...

barred rail The barred rail (''Hypotaenidia torquata'') is a species of rail found across the Philippines, Sulawesi (Indonesia) and Salawati Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua (formerly West Papua), ...

zebra dove The zebra dove (''Geopelia striata''), also known as the barred ground dove, or barred dove, is a species of bird of the dove family, Columbidae, native to Southeast Asia. They are small birds with a long tail, predominantly brownish-grey in col ...

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

Pacific swallow The Pacific swallow (''Hirundo tahitica'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in tropical southern Asia and the islands of the south Pacific. It is resident apart from some local seasonal movements. This bird is associate ...

yellow-vented bulbul The yellow-vented bulbul (''Pycnonotus goiavier''), or eastern yellow-vented bulbul, is a member of the bulbul family of passerine birds. It is a resident breeder in southeastern Asia from Indochina to the Philippines. It is found in a wide vari ...

s, and

chestnut munia The chestnut munia or black-headed munia (''Lonchura atricapilla'') is a small passerine. It was formerly considered conspecific with the closely related tricoloured munia, but is now widely recognized as a separate species. This estrildid finch ...

s. Despite its status as a marine protected area, these habitats are still threatened by human activities, including dynamite and

cyanide fishing In respect of fishing techniques, cyanide fishing is a specific method of collecting live fish, mainly for use in aquariums, which involves spraying a sodium cyanide mixture into the desired fish's habitat in order to incapacitate the fish. This ...

due to lack of political and financial support resulting to poor governance and enforcement.

References

{{Protected areas in the Bicol Region Islands of Camarines Sur Protected landscapes and seascapes of the Philippines Wilderness areas of the Philippines